In the Begining
by Ghostpaw
Summary: LupinxTonks. Well, they had to meet somehow… Tonks’s introduction into the order.


Summary: LupinxTonks. Well, they had to meet somehow… Tonks's introduction into the order.

Author's notes: This is a stand alone 'pilot' piece for what I hope will be a long running story arc revolving around Lupin and Tonks and what goes on when the kids aren't watching. For more details and further episodes, please see my profile.

Disclaimer: Non of these characters are mine (more's the pity), nor is the universe in which these stories are set, it all belongs to JKR, Bloomsbury, etc etc. I'm just playing.

In the Beginning…

Remus Lupin barely registered the roar of the motorcycle outside 12 Grimauld Place, and was only mildly distracted by the slam of the front door and Mrs Black's tirade of expletives. The last few weeks had been a blur since Sirius Black had appeared out of the blue on his doorstep to inform him that he was under strict instruction from Dumbledore to get the old gang back together and have a party. It had taken him a while to elucidate that this translated as Voldemort had returned and they were to reform the Order of the Phoenix, but such was Sirius. Almost over night a years worth of unemployed tedium was replaced with a flurry of contacts to chase, files to organise, reports to compile, new members to bring up to speed and bloody Doxies to massacre in an attempt to make the Black family pile habitable again. Out in the hallway, Severus grumbled something Remus didn't quite catch but was no doubt unpleasant as he silenced the irascible portrait and was greeted with a cheery "Go boil your head, Snape!". Remus smiled to himself. He shouldn't laugh at people abusing Severus, but half the time he deserved it. The sound of the cheery voice suddenly snapped his attention away from the report on the whereabouts of known Death Eaters he was attempting to draw together from a mountain of notes on the drawing room desk. Oh crap! There was that new lass he was supposed to be meeting, oh what was her name, student of Moody, friend of Charlie and Kingsley, and what the heck had he done with those induction notes…

There was a knock at the drawing room door. He jumped, sending the mountain of notes fluttering to the floor. Just as he went to pick them up, the door cracked open, and a pale, heart-shaped face crowned by a shock of alarmingly pink hair peered around it.

"Sorry to interrupt, but are you Lupin? I was told to come in here for some sort of induction thingy."

"Um, yes," he stood up, and offered her a hand, her name finally coming back to him "you must be Nym…"

She scowled as she shook his hand.

"Tonks. Everyone calls me Tonks. Because Nymphadora is a bugger to pronounce, and a bugger to spell, and a really stupid name."

He shrugged. He thought it was quite pretty, actually, but if that was what she was comfortable with.

"Alright, Tonks, if you give me a moment to find the relevant bits of paper, I'll try and fill you in with the things you need to know."

"Works for me. You've got ink on your nose by the way."

Tonks regarded the tall man who was enthusiastically detailing what the Order knew, what the Order didn't know, and what the Order was wildly speculating about, with a sense of curiosity. There was something about his mussed, pale brown hair, long nose (ink smudge or no) and the three scars that crossed his face that was oddly familiar, but damned if she could remember where from. He talked like a teacher, which was almost cute, but to be honest she wasn't really listening, she'd heard it all before from Kingsley and Bill and Charlie. The real reason she'd agreed to come to the Order HQ early was in the hope of catching Sirius before things got serious. It was a weird thought, seeing him again, she must have only been eight or nine when he was disappeared. As if on queue, the drawing room door burst open and in bounced a lean figure with a mop of black hair.

"Oi, Moony! Tea?"

Sirius stopped suddenly as his eyes settled on Tonks, and his face lit into a broad grin.

"Tonksie?"

"Sirius!"

The two gave a little shriek of joy and excitement, leapt to hug each other and proceeded to bounce around in a little circle in the middle of the drawing room floor.

"Oh my gods! I can't believe it's really you! It's been forever! I thought you were gone for good!"

"You don't get rid of me that easily, girly! Come on, we've got thirteen years of gossip to catch up on, only you'll have to do most of the talking 'cus twelve years of mine aren't terribly interesting and…!"

"Oh come on, escaping from prison, running from the law, general derry-doing, how can you say that…!"

"_A-hem_"

Tonks and Sirius stopped bouncing and turned to look at Remus, whom they'd rather forgotten was in the room, and who now looked somewhat bewildered.

"You two know each other then?"

Sirius barked a laugh.

"Always the master of understatement, Moony. And you must have remembered Tonksie! She's my favourite cousin. Well, first cousin I suppose, but her mum Andi was the only relative I ever got on with and we used to look after Tonksie all the time."

(Somewhere from the recess of his memory Remus recalled a little girl that he and Sirius had babysat and who had been easily mollified with juggling tricks, but…)

"Never mind," said Tonks "I was a lot smaller and a lot less pink then, I shouldn't worry about it."

Remus looked slightly embarrased "Anyway, I'm sure you two have lots to catch up on, but if you could give us another ten minutes, Sirius, I really have to finish going over Order business with Tonks before the meeting tonight."

"Well, actually, Kingsley, Bill and Charlie have pretty much told me and Hes everything already, so it's ok."  
"Who's Hes?"

"Hestia Jones, she lives with me and Kingsley and Bill, numerologer, she couldn't make it this afternoon but she'll be here later."

"Right." Remus shuffled uncomfortably a moment, like he felt he was intruding on something, "I'll leave you two to it then."

As Sirius led her out of the room, she glanced back at Remus, who was fiddling with the stack of reports again, and distantly remembered a skinny youth who showed her juggling tricks and pointed out interesting things in hedgerows. He was fun. She was looking forward to working with him.

As Sirius led Tonks out of the room, Remus sneaked a look after them. He wasn't sure whether to be scared or comforted by the fact that being hyperactive and bonkers seemed to be a Black family tradition, but working with her was certainly going to be interesting.


End file.
